Can Someone Please Help My Tank Crisis!!!

[epop]

Hi everyone,

I decided to join a forum because I really need some answers to what is happening in my tank!

I had a large tank (I cant remember the exact measurements) which had, 6 neon tetras, 2 snails, 2 cherry barb, roughly 15/20 red cherry shrimp, 2 crystal reds and two amano shrimp all living happily together. My cherrys even had babies!

My tank was fully cycled all the shrimp and fish got on well together I had no problems what so ever. Just to let you know I had this tank running for roughly 11 months with no problems (except the 1st month when I learned certain fish shouldn't be put in with shrimp and different species)

I went to Pets at Home and bought new decorations and new gravel because after a year I wanted a change. Just a note – I do 25/30% water changes every 2 weeks and alternate my decorations for example, I will take the ship wreck out and replace it with the treasure chest – this has never caused a problem.

So I got home and did about 35% water change as I discovered my filter was no longer working due to a blockage (but all fish and shrimp were happy and healthy) and I then removed half the gravel and put in new gravel and added all the new decorations. I washed over all gravel and decorations before putting them in the tank.

At this point I will add that I had bought a much smaller Fluval tank that I had started cycling as I wanted to downgrade the size.

The water was cloudy in my main tank for nearly two days but I thought maybe this is normal due to putting some new gravel in…….? The water cleared but that’s when the problems started. My fish started swimming at the top of my tank, well actually kind off just bobbing there never moving from the top. I then noticed and this was the strangest part, all my shrimp were now at the top of my tank as well. They were all attached to the corners, or on top if the heater all sitting on top of each other but all at the top of the tank.

A few days after this I started noticing dead shrimp all over the place, but having said that a few days after my fish were back to normal but the shrimp never recovered.

I was pretty upset by this point as my shrimp are my pride and joy of the tank.

By now my other tank was just over a week cycled. I decided to take a few of the new ornaments and a handful of the new gravel and put them in my newly cycled fluval tank (at this point I was blaming my filter on the old tank) and place them in the new tank. I then rescued the remaining shrimp, roughly 5 and put them in the new tank.

Now my new tank is over 2 weeks cycled and I am still having major problems. I cant ever find my cherry shrimp, I even bought 5 more cherrys and I cant see any of them (and this is only a small tank) I moved a decoration the other day and two dead shrimp floated away from it!

I'm starting to wonder now have the new decorations/gravel poisoned the water in both tanks?!

I had absolutely no problems in my old tank and all fish/shrimp were happy swimming and eating and never a death but since I bought these new decorations I've had massacres in both tanks!

I really want to sort this mess out because I want to start my fish/shrimp community again but I cant seem to get to the bottom of the problem.

Does anyone have any ideas what’s happened?

p.s. I gave my fish back to a local pet shop as I didn't want to risk them being killed in either tank anymore

[KenCotigirl]

epop, sorry to hear about your troubles. You had several issues at the same time, Decorations, gravel and filter. Not to insult, how did you wash you gravel and decorations? Do you test you water parameters, pH, ammonia, nitrites, tds? You use a dechlorinator like Prime? Save your money and stop buying tank mates.

How long do you cycle your tank? 4,6,8 weeks. Less time maybe ok for fish but not shrimp. You need to test for ammonia and nitrites before adding shrimp. They should measure zero.

I added a fake resin log. Killed all my shrimp in 24 hours. Why? Not sure. Rinsed it, yes. Never will add a resin product again. Not worth the chance. Gravel rinsed in water a few times should never cause a problem. How deep was your gravel? Deep gravel 2-3 inches is too deep. When disturbed it can release trapped gasses which is bad for fish/shrimp. 1/2 inch is fine.

Blocked filter for a short period of time should not be an issue. Do you use air bubbler or a air driven sponge filter. Always good in a shrimp tank.

Best to start over. Clean tank, filter etc. Generally when algae and biofilm is growing on tank surfaces the tank maybe close to cycled. Check ammonia and nitrites, you are looking for zero. Buy a small portion of moss and a moss ball and put the two snails back in. This will help tank cycle. After at least a month buy a small oto catfish when algae is growing on surfaces. Fish and shrimp usually do not mix but... Stay away from Barbs they are bigger hunters then the neons. Then buy your neons. Wait a few weeks then buy cherry shrimp. Keep us updated.

[powerbook]

If you're starting a new tank, try to get some cycled water from friend or store and add it to the new tank.
If you can get used filter from cycled tank, that helps a lot too.
Also measure Ammonia/nitite/nitrate in your tank after your cycling attempt!

Good luck!